800 baby turtles rescued from storm drains in 3 Jersey Shore towns
Posted May 06, 2021
Hundreds of baby turtles have been rescued from storm drains at the Jersey Shore, but they weren’t mutant ninjas.
Over the past few weeks, volunteers scooped 826 diamondback terrapin hatchlings from storm drains in Margate, Ventnor and Ocean City, where they had been hiding from cold temperatures over the winter while surviving off yolk sacs, Stockton University wrote in a Facebook post.
Two volunteers Marlene Galdi and Joanne Freas often help turtles crossing busy roads at the Jersey, but more recently realized the babies are small enough to slip through the cracks of storm drains. The pair spotted the quarter-sized creatures swimming in the drains in Ocean City one day and used a custom scooper from a telescopic aquarium net attached to a bamboo pole to rescue them.
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Thanks to quick thinking volunteers Marlene Galdo, Joanne Freas, and Evelyn Kidd, 826 baby diamondback terrapin turtles will live to see another day after being rescued from storm drains in Ocean City, Margate, and Ventnor according to NJ.com and the Stockton University Facebook page
The baby turtles used the storm drains for shelter over the long and cold winter season. They survive by eating yolk sacks. After being rescued by volunteers, the diamondback baby terrapins were turned over to Stockton University s Head Start Program for proper care. The turtles will be released back into the wild in about a year.
OCEAN CITY More than 800 tiny, turtle hatchlings are being cared for at Stockton University s Vivarium, after being rescued from storm drains by several residents.
The baby diamondback terrapins hatched during the winter months and then stayed hunkered down in underground nest areas until spring, before venturing out.
Above-ground they can easily face trouble, either in man-made sidewalk curbs or, in this case, slipping between the grates of street-level storm drains.
Marlene Galdi and Joanne Freas were able to help the hatchlings in Ocean City, while Evelyn Kidd and others gave the assist in Ventnor and Margate, according to Stockton University.